Emerson’s nursery took the entire 10 months of her gestation to plan and decorate, and it’s still not complete. But, I thought it’d be fun to post some pictures of it, as is, since I know I love seeing how other people decorate their nurseries.

It took me quite a while to feel inspired during pregnancy. I scoured the internet for ideas, color schemes, patterns, and themes and simply could not come up with anything. I needed a starting point so I had something to build the room around, and I needed it to feel like Emerson, though I had yet to met her. At some point I got a sense of what Em was like and I think her room is a pretty accurate reflection of that—sweet, peaceful, feminine but not in an over-the-top way with artist touches. I began by choosing this fabric, which I ended up using for the crib skirt and window treatment:

Then I began working on some artwork. First I painted a pair of lucky elephants that I hung over the dresser/changing station:

Then I painted a wise owl that is currently keeping these adorable owl bookends company (thanks, Natalie!):

I found this sign—so fitting:

Here’s the crib skirt, handmade by my amazing gal pal, Hannah:

And the matching window treatment:

I decided to go with 3D wall flowers, instead of a traditional mobile:

And I printed a large version of my Pink Light photo on deep matte paper, which I have yet to hang on the big, empty wall opposite the crib.

The nursery was a long-term project. Here are some side-by-side before and after photos that really show how much we’ve changed the room.